procured, which the cunning animal no sooner saw bearing down than it turned short round, and was within a few yards of grounding, when the three aforesaid stalkers were ready to fire within fair distance. The left-shouldered man took deliberate aim at the head, the only part above water, and cut off the horns close to the skull. The deer now struck ground, and when bounding along the shore was missed by the gamekeeper, but immediately brought down in admirable style by his old father. That a man could miss a deer, and yet knock down double shots one after another at game, used to appear a complete problem to me; especially as one of his rivals could not hit a bird at all, and his father as a game-shot was not to be named in the same day with him. After a little practice myself, the solution was plain. I have seen this old man in his eightieth year, bring down a deer running, and last season had some venison sent me, killed by him, when ninety-one years old!!

As I consider this forester the finest specimen I ever met with of a Highlander of the old school, I may perhaps be allowed to mention some of his peculiarities apart from his professional avocations. His words like his shooting are slow, but sure to tell. When addressing his superiors, his manner is marked by the greatest courtesy, without the least approach to servility. He is well read in ancient history, knows all about the siege of Troy, and talks with the greatest interest of Hannibal's passage over the Alps. On one occasion, when several gentlemen were talking on a disputed point of history, he stepped forward, begged

pardon for interrupting them, and cleared it up to their His memory is still excellent, and

utter amazement.

nothing gives him greater delight than old traditions, legends, &c. The last time I saw him, he gave us an account of some of the Roman Catholic bishops of Scotland with characteristic anecdotes. In politics he has his own peculiar opinions, is particularly jealous of the encroachments of the "Great Bear," as he calls Russia, and thinks the Allies committed an irreparable error in not partitioning France after the battle of Waterloo. No present finds greater favour than the last Newspaper; and it is curious to see the old man devouring its contents without spectacles. He would not be a true Highlander were he not a firm believer in all their superstitions. Two instances of second-sight he related to me as having happened to himself; although he is very unwilling to talk upon the subject, and I have often noticed his evasive replies to those who questioned him. I premise my account by saying, that wherever he is known, his word has never been doubted, and I would believe it as implicitly as that of the proudest peer in the realm. One day, when returning very tired from some sporting expedition, he met an acquaintance, accompanied by a young man whom he also perfectly well knew. The first stopped to ask "what sport?" he gave a short answer over his shoulder, and saw the young man walk on. That afternoon he heard he had been killed by a fall from his cart, at the very time of this rencontre. Upon questioning his companion the next day, he said there was no person with him. The

other instance happened one rainy evening when looking over his kennel. He saw a man with a grape cleaning out the gutter, and called to know who had desired him to do so. The gutter-cleaner walked slowly towards him, but something having arrested his attention in the mean time, he lost sight of him, and could not make out how he had disappeared; upon inquiring of the overseer, he said this man was unwell and confined to bed. He shortly afterwards recovered, which was sufficient confirmation to the old forester of the truth of his vision, for in all cases of second-sight, where the object approaches, it is a sure sign of recovery, and when it recedes, of death. Another of his prejudices is the lucky or unlucky "first foot." Half the people of the country were one or the other with him. There was a canty old carle of a herd whose happy cheerful face was enough to banish care from every other brow; but the old forester had unfortunately met him on the morning of some unlucky day. Now as it happened that this conscientious old herd, whose boast it was "L I never did ahint ma maister's back what I wad na do afore his face," was generally one of the earliest astir, he was oftener the "first foot" than any other body; and as he came crooning some old Gaelic song, with his staff over his shoulder, and gave his blithe salutation, "Goot mornin, goot mornin; goot sport, goot sport!" a stranger would wonder at the look of gloom which overshadowed the forester's face, and the scarcely articulate grunt which was his only reply, sometimes followed by the half-muttered exclamation, "Chock that body!" To shoot a wild-swan

was reckoned a most unlucky feat. One severe winter, when after water-fowl with another man, four hoopers were discovered close to the shore. His companion eagerly pointed them out, when the old forester, who had most likely seen them first, coolly replied, "You-see,-John,— we'll just let them alone!" The only thing not truly national about him was substituting a pinch of snuff for a quid of tobacco; and when out on the hills he has often expressed his belief, that the moss-water he was sometimes obliged to drink would long ago have been the death of him, had he not always followed it up by the antidote of a pinch which "killed all the venom."

But the character of my old friend has beguiled me into too long a digression. I must now return to the rifle.

Every man before firing at deer must be thoroughly acquainted with his own-a point even more important with a rifle than a shot-gun. Under eighty yards it will most likely shoot a little high; and if the wind is at all strong, it will alter the direction of the ball fully a foot at a hundred yards, for which allowance must be made. The best place to hit a deer, unless he is lying down, and so close as to tempt one to try the head, is just behind the shoulder. If struck fair, he will most likely bound forward ten or twenty yards, and then drop. One that I shot ran fifty yards before it fell, although the lower part of the heart was touched. When this occurs, you may be sure it will never rise again. If, on the contrary, it falls instantaneously, unless shot through the head, neck, or spine, it may very possibly spring up on a sudden, and perhaps